Hi all, we’re going to start doing a weekly roundup of interesting articles so your weekend can be filled with awesome stuff to read.
A collective of rainbow organisations say the government’s Rebuilding Together Budget lacks any specific funding for their communities at a time when they face more challenges than ever. In mid-May, the government unveiled a $50 billion recovery package as part of this year’s Budget. Rainbow communities were not named as a priority group however, despite being disproportionately affected by issues addressed in the Budget, the Youth Sector Rainbow Collective said. Rainbow communities now more than ever faced significant challenges in employment, housing, family violence and mental health and without being named as a priority group “there is no assurance that the needs of rainbow young people will be specifically considered,” the group said. – Rainbow youth sector says Covid-19 response lacks funding for its communities
“I’ve done my best to keep busy and being stuck at home with not a lot to do is already hard but knowing the life-saving surgery you’ve been waiting years for has been moved again is pretty heartbreaking.” Kate isn’t alone in her struggle to access gender-affirming healthcare. The 2019 Counting Ourselves Study found 67 percent of transgender men and 49 percent of transgender women had an unmet need for gender-affirming surgeries.The Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) is concerned that Covid-19 is exacerbating health inequities and healthcare access barriers faced by trans and non-binary New Zealanders. – Covid-19: Trans NZers unable to get gender-affirming healthcare
We wanted to kick off Pride Month this year with a string of celebratory posts tied to our book. We’re still going to do that because no matter what, Pride is a joyous, life-affirming, necessary part of the queer calendar and queer lives. We need it more than ever. But we also need to remember that the people we’re commemorating; the people who fought so hard to center our lives, uphold our dignity and even keep us alive, the people we paint pretty pictures of and write loving eulogies about – were assholes and provocateurs who made a lot of enemies, were at the receiving end of a lot of sometimes violent pushback, and at various times during their lives, would have happily burnt it all down. – Stonewall Was an Anti-Police Riot and ACT UP Was an Anti-Corporate Public Menace
The Government should declare racism a public health crisis, says an academic who has given up being “polite” about the topic. Dr Donna Cormack – a senior lecturer at Auckland University and a researcher for Otago University – has spent years studying the impacts of racism on health in New Zealand and overseas. Overwhelming evidence showed racism drove health outcomes and experiences of health services for Māori, she said. Cormack argued the Health Ministry should declare racism a public health crisis, act to eradicate it from the health system, and fund a public health campaign. – ‘Life or death’ challenge for Government to declare racism a public health crisis
Māori mothers of newborns involved with Oranga Tamariki say the child welfare system is dangerous, brutal and racist. Their experiences have been detailed in a report from the Children’s Commissioner, which was released today. Judge Andrew Becroft is calling for fundamental change at the Children’s Ministry, saying the system is racist and is being let down by some poor social work. – Māori mothers describe child welfare system as dangerous and brutal in new report
In 1917, nurses joined protests in front of the White House gates for a different reason. They believed that if women won the right to vote, they could reform public health, set workplace standards, fund hospitals, and improve the lives of the working-class and poor people who bore the greatest burden of sickness. Medical professionals often face pressure to appear neutral and stay out of politics, but nurses have long believed that sick bodies are political. Their profession formed in defiance of those who devalued care work as feminine and unskilled. For many nursing leaders, joining the movement for women’s suffrage and going to jail with fellow protesters was part of their medical mission. – Nurses Have a History of Activism in the U.S., Championing Suffrage and Universal Health Care
For the last few weeks, healthcare workers in the United States have organized walkouts, rallies, and a national day of action. They are fighting against the poor working conditions in hospitals and the lack of personal protective equipment. How were these actions organized? How did mostly local initiatives turn into a national event? – Frontline Healthcare Workers Are Becoming Socialists
#BlackLivesMatter protests are happening across America following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man who died after a white police officer pinned his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes, ignoring Floyd’s repeated pleas for air. As people take to the streets to protest Floyd’s death—as well as countless more unjust deaths in communities of color, both in recent months and throughout history—medical workers are doing their part to support protesters. Despite spending long, tireless hours risking their own health at the hospital caring for coronavirus (COVID-19) patients among others in need, nurses are going straight from their shifts to the demonstrations to help protesters who’ve been injured. – Nurses Are Supporting Injured #BlackLivesMatter Protesters with First Aid Care
Health Sector Workers Network of Aotearoa 